Why upper body strength is important

Squeeze your shoulders together to row the weight up until it touches your sternum, then lower it down again. When performing this move, make sure you are pulling your elbows behind you instead of pulling the bar up. An Arnold press is a great way to work out all three heads of the deltoid at once: the front delt, the side delt, and the rear delt.

It also helps improve your posture. In one motion, raise the dumbbells and rotate the palms of your hand to face forward and keep lifting until your arms are extended above you. After this, you will pause, reverse the move, and repeat. The only problem with a bench press is that it requires specific equipment, but if you have a bench and dumbbells, you will be good to go.

For this exercise, lie on your back on the bench. Then, grab the dumbbells with one in each hand and extend them above you, then lower them to your mid-chest, press back up, and repeat. In order to do a pullover, you will also need a bench and a dumbbell. Begin by holding a medium-to-heavy dumbbell and lay on the bench with your back flat. Your feet should be planted on the ground and your core should be engaged.

To begin, extend your arms to the sky and hold the dumbbell with both hands above the chest. Conrad says. Popeye-esque arms may help your shirts fit differently, but the benefits of a strong upper body go way beyond aesthetics.

For starters, increasing muscle mass anywhere on the body comes with benefits like boosted metabolism , stronger bones and a healthier heart. But upper body strength, specifically, may be particularly significant for overall health. It can also serve as a predictor of cardiovascular health. In a February study from the journal Nutrition, Obesity and Exercise , men who could do at least 40 push-ups in 30 seconds had a lower risk of heart attack, heart failure and other cardiovascular conditions than those who could do less than Carvajal highlights the functional nature of upper-body strength, saying it's increasingly important as you age if you want to remain independent.

If you lack the strength to do these activities and do them anyway, your lower back, lats, traps and other surrounding muscles have to compensate in order to allow you to move how you want or need to move, says Jackie Wilson, founder and CEO of NOVA Fitness.

Unfortunately, over time, this can lead to overuse injuries, pain and impingement. Don't read this wrong: Upper-body strength isn't more important than leg strength. You have muscles of your hands, forearms, upper arm and shoulder.

You also have muscles that connect your limbs to your chest, torso and spinal column. Benefits of strength in these muscles are a pleasing, healthy appearance and strong posture. More important, maintaining strength in these muscles enables you to perform everyday and sports-related activities at an optimal level and to minimize the muscle loss that comes with aging.

Upper body muscle strength can also help prevent injuries with activities that stress those muscles. The muscles and joints of your hand primarily allow you to grasp and clench. Those abilities allow you to perform fine motor skills.

An inability to grasp would limit your functionality significantly. The muscles of your lower arm allow you to rotate your hands and to flex and extend your hand, wrist and forearm. Having well-defined arms and shoulders is a bonus, but there are many other benefits to building and maintaining a strong upper body other than aesthetics. Here's some of the big ones It can improve your posture. Strengthening the muscles in the back encourages a more upright posture.

A strong back is essential for good posture. A large percentage of the population live very sedentary lives, either through being hunched over a computer, plonked behind a desk or sat at the wheel of a car all day. As a result, most suffer from posterior imbalances. The chest muscles tighten, the back muscles weaken and the shoulders round forward a condition known as kyphosis. Strengthening the muscles in the back encourages you to hold your shoulders back.

It also improves your core strength, forcing the body to sit up tall. Sit all day?